7 Reasons the Gracie and other Rape Prevention Systems FAIL

Were you sound asleep when a rapist magically teleported onto your bed? Or did you let your roommate forget to lock the door again for the 13th time?

Did you say “NO” when a stranger asked you to follow him from Crime Scene One to Crime Scene Two? Or did you choose to believe he just wanted to show you the cute puppy in his apartment?

Did you refuse to accept potentially spiked drinks from a stranger? Or were you having too much fun?

Did you try to escape on your feet using technology such as pepper spray or a personal alarm? Or did you fail to plan to actually use the little keychain canister stuck in the bottom of your purse?

Bottom line: If you got into this position, YOU ALREADY SCREWED UP A LOT.

I get how you can’t cover everything in a video, but where do you draw the line? Students will ask “What if I’m blind-folded, handcuffed, ankles wrapped with duct tape, and have a gun to the back of my head?” “What if I’m on my knees and being executed?”

They assume the worst is him putting a hand over your mouth or slapping you. In reality, there is no such thing as rape defense. There is only ground defense. What happens on the ground?

The ground and pound.

This is not gender specific. Men and women get punched in the face. Everybody has a plan until they get hit. It is impossible to injure targets or set up an elaborate escape (see above) when you are getting the crap beaten out of you. Likewise, unlike in MMA, your attacker will reach for your crotch.

If you’re a man, he wants to crush your testicles. If you’re a woman, he’s trying to touch your pussy and/or pull down your zipper. You will freak out if your defense doesn’t account for when things get FUBAR aka Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. This brings us to…

3) The defense has you go immediately into injuring targets.

Gouge an eye. Twist his testicles. TFT is famous for this line of thinking. In theory, if an attacker’s punch goes to your head and is simply “non-specific trauma where no injury was produced, you can still think and move and thus rotate and penetrate through a specific target to cause non-functionality to a target aka injury.”

TFT assumes criminals have high intent but poor targeting. However, criminals intuitively understand they just need to hit first and keep hitting. Most victims aren’t going to be able to do anything and “freeze up” even if they’ve had prior training. Why?

Because most people aren’t use to getting punched about the head and face. A lot of women have never played any type of combat sport. They’ve never felt the shake, the shimmer, the rock-and-roll of their brain bouncing around in their skull. Whether from being punched or just being tackled hard, it sucks.

Going from standing to flat on your back really sucks.

Ignoring this, TFT and others such as the popular “Just Yell Fire” by Dallas Jessup misapply “the best defense is a good offense” theory. Grossman’s “On Combat” would point out how the conditions of these types of fear-induced situations make specific targeting impossible. Everything will be a blur when you’re getting slammed on your back or being hit.

Your natural instinct will be to cower and cover up. Your training needs to work with and channel this natural instinct. It should not have you go completely against it.

4) Straight-arm Attacks
Nobody chokes with their arms extended like Frankenstein’s monster. Pure Hollywood crap. If someone is angry and really wants to choke you, he is going to bend his arms and get up close and personal. He will get on top of you, not stay in between your legs. He will bounce your head off the ground as he drives his thumbs into your windpipe.

TFT is guilty of showing a straight-arm grab of both wrists in their bonus video for “Survive the Unthinkable.” Only the straight-arm position allows you tip him over his “four-pronged base” by simply extending one arm perpendicular to your body and bucking your hips.

5) Use of Complex and Fine Motor Skills
Again, problematic with all systems based on marital ART and combat SPORT. The use of convoluted throws and escapes simply will not work under stress. Most won’t even work in training against a man who actually resists the throw. If you’re a 110 pound woman, regardless of how you manipulate leverages, you will never be able to get a 200 pound man to fly off of you as seen in demonstrations.

6) Not Accounting for Weapons
If you can’t adapt a defense to deal with a knife or a gun, the defense is useless. Weapons are often used to intimidate rape victims into submitting. While most guns aren’t even discharged in these situations, your training ideally needs to prepare you to clear the weapon and attack the man. Or not being there in the first place, see 1).

7) Trying to Get Inside His Head

The worst defenses assume your rapist is simply a pervert desperate for sex. While many do fit this stereotype, it is pointless to try to reason with him since his behavior is unpredictable. Verbal tricks MIGHT help if you’re on your feet. Things like acting confused, “What do you want?,” like a pussy, “Oh my God, please don’t hurt me,” or using throwaway money.

But on the GROUND, you’re already in a very bad situation, don’t waste any more time.

Taking this to extremes is when you have advice like, “Try to urinate or defecate” aka pee or shit your pants in hopes of disgusting your rapist. Terrible. Emptying your bladder might happen due to the stress of your fight-or-flight response, but don’t count on this to stop a rapist. Think SYSTEM, not collection of random advice and techniques.

You can’t assume he isn’t going to duct tape your mouth first or punch your lights out bringing us back to 2).

Overall, quit trying to learn an unproven collection of random techniques aka bits and pieces of advice. Set the money aside to TRAIN in a SYSTEM designed to deal with ALL types of violence, not just sexual. A SYSTEM which gives you the complete picture.

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Yep people are always crying and bitching about the huge increase in college campus sexual assaults or crime in general. The fact is while it’s always wrong to victimize anybody, there are a lot of people who are just plain dumbasses and set themselves up to be easy marks for criminals but then they blame the college campus, security, police, or the government for not doing enough to protect them. Be aware of your surroundings, use some common sense, and be proactive in taking steps to protect your own life and property. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the cliche goes.